MARINES VS TWO YEAR OLDS
by ncsupnatfan
Summary: A short story on the adventures of babysitting. It would be best to read Full Circle to know about the OC's in this story. This is set a couple of years after Full Circle.


**A/N: Just a fun short one on a day babysitting the twins. Hope you enjoy. Love reviews. NC**

* * *

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Annie asked her husband as he sipped on his coffee.

"We've gone over this, they will be fine Annie. I'm sure the boys can handle them until the girls get here." Jethro answered.

"But four days, that's a long time to be away from them."

"Hope and Tyler will be fine. They're two and a half years old and we've not had more than a day alone since they were born. I think a four day weekend is just what we need."

"It would be nice to just relax and enjoy ourselves." she smiled at him before leaning down to kiss him. "Without munchins pulling at us."

Jethro pulled her into his lap and returned the kiss more passionately. They were so involved with each other; neither heard the front door open.

"Oh gee guys don't you get enough of that in the bedroom?" Trace smirked as he strolled into the kitchen with Shadow following closely behind him.

"We're a little early, Shadow was driving."

"Hey! Only because I figured out a short cut."

"Now boys behave. Would you like coffee?" Annie giggled as she watched them bicker with each other.

"Sounds good Mom."

"So you two ready to jet off?"

"Yes, I finished packing this morning." Annie replied setting cups of coffee on the table. "There's food in the fridge. The kids are napping upstairs. Are you guys sure you can handle them? They can be a handful at this age."

"We're Marines, we can handle anything." Trace assured her. "You and Dad deserve some time alone. Besides, Ziva and Abby will be over later to help."

"I'll go get the bags." Jethro told them before heading upstairs.

"Our numbers are on the fridge if you need us. Thanks for doing this."

"We'll be fine and so will the rug rats, now go and don't worry what could go wrong?"

"Ready?"

"Yes, I guess." Annie said wiping her hands trying to stall.

"Come on, traffics going to get worse the longer we wait." Jethro urged her. "The kids can't be in better hands."

"I know, it's the guys I'm worried about. You know our little ones are no angels, they're way beyond terrible twos."

"Don't worry, we've faced worse." Shadow smiled pushing her toward the door. "Go have a good time."

"Call us!" she called over her shoulder as Jethro pulled her out the door.

"Finally." Trace sighed settling back with his coffee.

As if on cue, cries could be heard from upstairs that had both of the Marines on their feet and heading for the stairs.

"You go right, I've got left." Trace ordered heading into Tyler's bedroom. "Hello little man."

Shadow continued to Hope's room and stepped in seeing her look at him from her crib. "Hello little lady."

"Sha'ow." she cried clapping her hands happily.

"So let's see if you need a fresh diaper." he told her picking her up from the crib and laid her on the twin bed.

She giggled and grabbed his cheeks in her small cubby hands. "Miss ya."

"I missed you too. Now lay still while I...Man! What is your Momma feeding you?" he cringed wrinkling his nose with disgust when he saw the surprise she had for him in her diaper. He opened the wipes and began to clean her realizing he forgot the diaper. He stepped to the dresser and pulled one from a stack only to see the bed empty when he turned back. "Runner!" he called heading for the door.

"Wow there little lady." Trace called to her as he captured a half naked Hope running from her bedroom. "You are a fast one, now go back to Uncle Shadow so he can get your diaper and clothes on you."

"Thanks." Shadow said relieving Trace of one of the twins. "She's going to be a runner when she gets older as fast as she moves."

"Yeah, she's little speedy Gonzales, going full blast and he's take his time turtle, let's think about it first. Amazing at how different they are."

"I'll get her dressed and meet you downstairs. I'm sure they'll want a snack."

"Juice!" Tyler cried. "Juice."

"Alright, let's go see what we can find in the fridge."

 **ncis**

"Hope, gotta strap you in." Shadow told her and she fussed and struggled to get free. "Uncle Trace has juice and bananas."

"Nana please." she chirped settling back in her highchair patting her tray.

"Coming right up." Trace announced setting slices of bananas on each tray along with juice boxes. "Eat up you two."

The twins began to stuff pieces of banana into their mouths with both hands. They smiled at their uncles who had sat down beside them to drink their coffee. Hope leaned toward Shadow puckering her lips for a kiss and blew a raspberry at him sending bits of banana into his face and hair. Trace howled with laughter to be rewarded with smashed bananas down the front of his shirt from Tyler which made Shadow snicker as another blob hit him on the side of the face.

"No food fight guys." Trace told them as the smashed banana slid on down off his cheek and onto the front of his shirt.

"Ok." they chimed together looking innocently at them.

"Who wants to color after they get their hands washed?"

"Yeah!" the twins cried holding out their hands to be cleaned.

"You get the hands; I'll get the books and crayons." Trace told Shadow before he got up from the table.

"Right."

Shadow wet a washcloth and proceeded to clean the hands of each child before letting them down to run for the living room.

"Color! Color!" they cried jumping up and down waiting for Trace to open the box so they could color. Hope grabbed a red color and Tyler a green one and began to color in long strokes on the page. After five or six strokes, colors were switched and more lines were added. They continued with this pattern until the pages was covered in an array of colors that overlapped and mingled together.

"What do we do now?" Shadow mumbled to Trace as they saw the twins were getting bored with coloring.

"How 'bout a walk? You know strapped in a stroller, what could go wrong?"

"Maybe stop at the park let them play so they'll get tired and take a nap."

"Sounds like a plan, you get the stroller ready and diaper bag, I'll get shoes and hats for the twins."

"Who wants to go for a walk and stop at the park?"

"Park, go play?" Hope asked.

"Yep, you guys get to play."

"Let me get your shoes and hats, you guys wait right here."

Shadow got the stroller from the mud room and checked the diaper bag to see what needed to be replenished. He grabbed juice boxes, crackers, squeeze-it's and bottles of water. He made sure there were light jackets also in there.

"Shadow, where's the kids?" Trace asked coming back down the stairs with shoes and hat.

"They're right..." Shadow started looking toward the coffee table to find no twins anywhere in sight. He looked around trying to find them but didn't see their blonde heads.

"Guys, don't you wanna go to the park?" Trace called looking in the closet.

"Hope, Tyler come on out." Shadow called to them and was finally rewarded with soft giggles coming from under the dining room table where they were hiding. "Trace, I think we might have a couple of mice in the dining room."

"Really?" Trace answered. "Guess we'll have to set some mouse traps out to catch them."

"Guess we'll have to go to the park by ourselves and get some ice cream too."

"I scream!" came tiny voices from under the table as two small heads appeared on the other side of the table to peer at them.

"Come on let's get those shoes on so we can go."

 **ncis**

"At least the day is nice and we could get out of the house." Shadow commented looking up at the blue sky with just a sprinkle of puffy white clouds slowly moving across the sky.

"Maybe we can do a movie when we get back, might keep their attention for all of fifteen-twenty minutes."

"That's true; they do have a short attention span that's for sure."

"Who wants to swing?"

"Me! Me!" the twins yelled from the stroller as Trace pushed it toward the park.

"You want to recon or should I?" Trace asked Shadow as they neared the park. Neither Marine was letting their charges out of the stroller until the park was checked out for any dangers.

"My turn, you did it last time. Give me ten before you turn them loose." Shadow said falling back and melting into the crowd. He was like a ghost moving among strangers who didn't even know he was there.

His sixth sense was not going off as he circled the park before heading back to Trace and the twins.

"Uncle Trace, swing now!" Hope was begging trying to unbuckle her harness and climb out of the stroller.

"Me too." Tyler demanded already getting his harness loose and scrambling out of the stroller before Trace could grab him.

"Shadow! To your left."

"Got him." Shadow grunted as he scooped a running Tyler up before he got to the swings. "Hold up, let's wait for your sister and Uncle Trace."

"Hope, fast, come." Tyler called to his sister.

"We're coming little man." Trace said walking toward them with Hope in his arms. "Ok, let's get you in a swing."

Trace settled Hope into a swing and Shadow sat Tyler in the one beside them. They began to push the kids starting the swings moving much to the delight of the kids. The twins laughed and squealed in delight as they went higher with each push.

"Both of you hang on tight, don't need an ER visit today." Trace cautioned them.

"Higher!" Hope urged as the wind made her hair fly out from her head with each motion.

"You trying to fly to the moon?" Trace laughed as he pushed her again.

"Yes." she squealed.

"Me too! To moon." Tyler added trying to pump his legs to go higher.

They continued to swing for another ten minutes until they decided it was time to play on the slide. The guys slowed the swings and pulled the kids out sitting them on the ground so they could run for the slide.

"The small one guys, you're too little to do the big one."

With a pout, Tyler followed his sister to a small baby slide and waited for her to climb the ladder before making his way up too. She slid down it plopping on her bottom only to get up and run around to do it again. The guys watched them as women around the park had eyes centered on the two Marines whispering among themselves.

"You feel that?" Shadow asked under his breathe.

"Like being watched?" Trace asked glancing to the side.

"Yeah, it's the women sitting around us."

"Why are they staring at us?"

"Uncle Sha'ow Ty using big slide." Hope called getting their attention.

Shadow and Trace both looked over to where the voice came from and saw Hope by the big slide and Tyler was already at the top and getting ready to come down.

"Oh crap." Shadow groaned as he began to run and made a flying leap catching Tyler as he flew uncontrollably through the air when he slid off the slide. Screams could be heard from women around them when they saw what was happening. Shadow cradled the child, hugging him to his chest as he came to a hard halt off to the side of the slide.

"Are you guys ok?" Trace asked running over to them.

"Yeah." Shadow grunted sitting up and looking Tyler over. "You ok Ty?"

"Y-Yes." Tyler whimpered as he caught his breathe.

"I think he's just scared."

"Ty you ok?" Hope asked leaning over to hug her brother.

"Ok Hope."

"What's say we go get us some ice cream?" Trace suggested.

"Come on Ty, I scream, I want strawberry." Hope said as she pulled her brother to his feet and they headed for the stand selling ice cream.

"You sure you're ok?" Trace asked Shadow as he slowly got to his feet rubbing his shoulder and limping slightly.

"Nothing an ice pack won't cure." he answered heading out after the kids.

 **ncis**

"Really don't think the ice cream was such a good idea." Trace commented as the twins came tearing through the kitchen screaming before heading for the living room and showing no signs of slowing down.

"Yeah, I think the sugar rush had them in overdrive." Shadow agreed watching the kids disappear into the other room. He grimaced as he moved the ice pack on his shoulder while gingerly moving his arm.

"How's the shoulder?"

"Better, Abby'll massage the stiffness out when she gets here."

"How much longer before the girls get here?"

"Probably five hours or so."

"You know, they'll need a bath to get all the ice cream out of their hair."

"Why was it again they decided to play in each other's hair?"

"Not sure, something about new look, I really don't know."

"What are we fixing them for lunch?"

"I'll see what's in the fridge. Annie said she fixed some food for us to eat."

"Sounds good, think we can slow them down long enough to eat?" Shadow asked as the kids made another noisy round through the downstairs.

"You guys about ready for lunch?" Trace called to them.

"No!" they screamed running around the dining room table.

"Let's get it ready and then see if we can corral them so they can eat."

"Uncle Shadow horsey ride pl-pleaseeee." Hope begged as she pulled at his hand and gave him her best adorable _You know I'm so cute_ expression.

"Alright." he caved in letting her pull him to the floor on his hands and knees. Ever since she had been born, he was a sucker for that pitiful, I love you, face. Hope cried in delight as she climbed onto his back and he began to shuffle around the room swaying back and forth making her scream in delight.

Seeing all the fun that his sister was having, Tyler ran over and stood in front of Trace, poking out his lower lip and looking longingly up at him. Not able to deny his request Trace slowly got on the floor and allowed the boy to straddle his back and began to chase after Shadow and Hope. The kid's laughter filled the house as they rode their human horses around until they collapsed on the floor exhausted.

"Horses tired, need to rest." Trace huffed panting from the physical activity.

"Water." Shadow moaned crawling to the fridge for a bottle of water.

"Juice! Juice!" the twins exclaimed clapping their hands on their horse's backs.

"How 'bout some lunch with that juice?" Trace suggested straightening up and letting Tyler slip from his back.

"Didn't the fresh air and playing work up your appetite?"

"Food! Food!" they began to chant together.

"You get them in their seats, I'll heat something up." Trace said quickly. "Hurry before they change their minds and take off again."

"Come on up into your chairs. How 'bout some fish crackers while you wait?"

"Fish! Fish!" they agreed holding out their hands for the snack.

"Hurry before they get violent."

 **ncis**

"With the spoon Hope, you were doing so good." Shadow urged her when she started to pick up the pasta with her fingers.

"I have to say they did pretty good eating." Trace said sitting a fruit cup in front of each child.

"I know." Shadow agreed to be rewarded with a spoon of sauce flipped into his hair. He wrinkled his nose as sauce dripped from his hair onto his face and continued to his light colored shirt.

"Nice shot." Traced snickered only to be rewarded with a hand of pasta up side his neck that slipped into the collar of his shirt and into the pocket on the front of the shirt.

"Come on guys, don't make a mess."

"Catch!" Hope cried throwing a hand of pasta and sauce at Tyler.

"My turn." Tyler called back to her sending some of his food her way.

"Ok, food fight's over." Trace stated trying to get Tyler's bowl from him before any more ended up on someone or in the floor.

"You too young lady." Shadow told her pulling her plate from her hands. "Now eat your fruit and then two little rug rats are getting a b-a-t-h."

"Yeah." Hope clapped.

"Play in water." Tyler clapped.

"Hey wait, you guys can spell? How old are you again?"

"Two and half."

"Almost three."

"Smart alecks." Trace told them.

"You watch them and I'll go run some water and get clean clothes out for them."

"Sounds good to me, get moving. Maybe after a relaxing bath, they'll crash for a while."

"I so hope so. Chasing them around is worse than basic training." Shadow complained heading for the stairs.

 **ncis**

"Grab more towels, a tidal wave just broke the bank." Trace called to Shadow who was rummaging around for a couple of old towels to catch the overflow of water.

"Hey guys, not so much splashing. Your Mom and Dad won't be happy if they have to replace the bathroom floor."

"Ok." the twins said letting them water settle down from their splashing.

"Let's get your hair washed and get you guys out of here before you turn into prunes."

"No, play more." Hope begged.

"How 'bout we watch a movie after you get out?"

"Watch Bambi!"

"Yeah you can watch Bambi."

"You do know what happens to Bambi's Mom, remember last time the they cried for hours." Shadow mumbled under his breath to Trace.

"Hey how 'bout Hundred and One Dalmatians? Wouldn't you like to see all those puppies?"

"Puppies." Tyler shouted.

"Done." Hope declared standing up wanting out of the tub.

"Give me a minute to rinse your hair." Shadow told her scooping up cup of water and pouring it over her head. Hope sputtered and shook her head like a wet dog, sending drops of water all over Shadow. "Hey! It's not time for my bath." he laughed at her trying to make sure all the suds were out of her hair. "Ok, let's get you dried and clothed and its movie time."

"Hurry Ty." Hope called to him as she reached her arms up for Shadow.

After lifting Hope out of the tub, he wrapped a soft towel around her wet body and carried her to her bedroom. Shadow quickly dried her off, diapered her and put clean clothes on her. He scooped her up in his strong arms, tossing her lightly in the air as he carried her down the stairs. It wasn't a few minutes, Trace and Tyler joined them in the living room.

"You get the movie started." Shadow told him settling on the floor with a pillow and a clean and tired Hope resting on his chest.

Once Trace had the movie going he made himself comfortable on the couch, letting Tyler crawl into his lap wriggling around until he was settled. The movie began to play as everyone quieted down and became still. Exhausted from babysitting two, two year olds, Trace and Shadow were down for the count, snoozing peacefully.

 **ncis**

Ziva and Abby quietly entered the house listening and looking for the twins. Silence greeted them as they stopped in the living room. They found their boyfriends asleep, one on the couch and one on the floor with no sign of the twins.

"Don't they look so cute?" Abby whispered.

"What's that in Shadow's hair?" Ziva asked.

"Kind of looks like spaghetti sauce maybe." she answered leaning closer to get a better look.

"Look Trace has a pocket of pasta and couple pieces of fruit." she giggled.

"Ziva, where's the twins?" Abby asked looking around the room slowly not seeing any sign of them.

"Come on maybe they're upstairs in the beds." Ziva said heading for the kitchen to set two bags of food down before joining her at the stairs.

The girls headed for the second floor and did a quick inspection of each bedroom not finding any sleeping kids in either.

"Come on, let's get the Marines up and find out what's going on."

 **ncis**

Once back downstairs, they girls shook the guys awake.

"Hey Shadow, wake up." Abby called to him.

"Trace, get up, where are the twins?" Ziva asked punching him lightly in the upper arm.

"Wh-what?" Trace grumbled trying to pull himself from sleep.

"Abbs, five more minutes." Shadow mumbled trying to roll away from her.

"Shadow wake up, where are the twins?" she fussed.

"Here." he answered patting his chest to find it empty. He squinted and looked beside him feeling for a small body that was missing. "Hope?" he called.

"Trace did you guys lose Ty and Hope?"

"No, they were right here watching a movie." he replied getting up and looking behind the couch.

Shadow was on his knees looking under the table and in the corners. Trace was looking in the closets and cabinets. Both were starting to worry when Trace's cell began to ring.

"Crap its Mom." he hissed. "What do I do?"

"Answer it, just don't say anything." Shadow told him. "They're here somewhere. Did you look upstairs?"

"Yes, didn't find them."

"Hello."

"Hey Trace, how are things going?" Annie asked.

"Its fine, are you and Dad enjoying yourself?"

"Well Jethro is snoozing. Can I talk to the twins?"

"Talk to the twins, oh they're napping now, wouldn't want to wake them." he said quickly.

"Is something wrong?" Annie asked catching the tone of his voice that he was trying to hide something.

"No, no, Ziva and Abby are here and we're all ok. Gotta go Shadow needs some help. Talk to you later." Trace told her hanging up. "We need to find them." he stated knowing he was in hot water if Annie found out they lost the twins.

"Let's check upstairs again. The door was locked so they couldn't of gotten outside."

"How 'bout the basement?"

"No, Mom had Dad put another lock on the door where it can't be opened but with a key."

"We each take a room." Shadow told them once everyone was upstairs.

The four split four different ways to search the rooms upstairs for the twins.

"Guys." Ziva motioned to the others from the master bedroom. "Found them."

The other three hurried to the bedroom and looked where Ziva was pointing. There in the king size bed snuggled between the pillows were two small heads barely sticking up above the comforter. The twins had crawled into their parents bed and curled up together going to sleep.

Trace and Shadow let out a long breathe, letting the tension flow from them now that they were found.

"Seems like the twins whipped your butts." Abby giggled.

"Come on, let's let them sleep." Ziva whispered herding everyone out of the room.

"I forgot how much energy a two year old has and multiply that by two and you get a double whammy."

"What's wrong with your shoulder?" Abby asked Shadow when she saw him favoring his right arm and rubbing his shoulder.

"Ty decided to test out the high slide and came off a little to fast."

"Yeah, he made a great catch."

"Do you need me to look at it?" she asked moving his hand and pulling his shirt away from his neck to look at his shoulder. She saw a dark, ugly, purple bruise beginning to form. "Come on, I'll put some balm on it."

"Thanks." he told her nuzzling her neck and kissing her behind her ear.

"Stop that, you know it drives me crazy." she giggled slapping at him.

"Did you get any food in them?" Ziva asked picking pasta from his pocket and the collar of his shirt.

"Oh yeah, forgot about that." Trace smiled down at her. "We found out they seem to enjoy pelting people with food."

"Have you eaten yet?"

"No, too tired to fix something."

"Good, we brought some food for dinner." she told him pointing to the bags.

"Bless you love."

"I'll go fix a couple of plates."

"Did I hear something about food?" Shadow asked from the living room.

"It'll be ready in ten minutes."

"You're an angel."

"Only for my family." she told him.

"I am so glad you girls showed up early, I was out of things to keep them entertained. You know they never stopped moving, I was exhausted just watching them."

"I can't believe two; two years old were able to take out two, veteran Marines." Ziva teased.

"Just wait." Abby added. "The fun is yet to come."

"Oh Heaven help us." Trace groaned.

"I think next time Tony and McGee get babysitting duty."

"I agree, now how 'bout that food."

 **The End**


End file.
